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June 21 – 27, 2010 Edition AAP Reports 11.8% Increase in Book Sales

New York, NY, June 21, 2010— Book sales tracked by the Association of American Publishers (AAP) for the month of April increased by 24.8% percent in April to $629.8 million and were up by 11.8 percent for the year through April, according to a report released late last week.

The Adult Hardcover category was up 49.2% percent in April compared to last year with sales of $142.9 million; sales through April are up by 16.2% percent. Adult Paperback sales increased 19.6 percent for the month ($128.2 million) and increased by 19.4 percent for the year. Adult Mass Market sales decreased 17.7 percent for April with sales totaling $49.1 million; sales were down by 6.3 percent through April. Hardcover Children’s/YA sales declined 11.2 percent for the month with sales of $40.5 million; sales through April are down by 30.2 percent. Children’s/YA Paperback sales decreased 0.8 percent in April with sales totaling $39.9 million; sales fell 6.1 percent through April.

Audio Book sales posted an increase of 18.6 percent in April with sales totaling $11.7 million; sales through April are up by 15.6 percent. Downloaded Audio Books increased 32.1 percent at sales of $6 million; the category was also up 30.8 percent through April. E-book sales jumped up 127.4 percent for the month ($27.4 million), reflecting an increase of 217.3 percent for the year-to-date. Religious Books were up 19.3 percent for the month with sales totaling $46.6 million; sales were up by 1.3 percent through April.

Sales of University Press Hardcover books fell 1.5 percent in April to $4.5 million; sales decreased by 1.3 percent through April. University Press Paperback posted a gain of 17.9 percent for the month with sales totaling $2.3 million; sales were down 0.5 percent for the year. Sales of Professional books rose by 14.6 percent to $54.4 million and were up by 15.4 percent through April.

Higher Education publishing sales increased 112.8 percent for the month ($ 74.5 million) and increased 28 percent for the year. Finally, the K-12 El-Hi (elementary/high school) category posted total net sales of $164.2 million, down 1.3 percent from March 2009, and sales through April were $485.4 million, an 8 percent increase.

All sales figures cited in this release are domestic net sales